Starvation is:
to be in the process of perishing or suffering severely from hunger
Research:
-Farms in Rome were almost never visited by their owners, but slaves would be put to work to take care of the land
-Both [[#|free]] men and slaves could be put to work at a farm
-Free men who worked on farms were typically either:
-were working on their own land (or land they rented)
-hired for an [[#|operation]] such as harvest
-were working off [[#|debt]]
-Slaves were not actually very [[#|cheap]] labor because they were considered the property of their owner. Because of this, slave owners would want to keep their slaves in good condition,so they would have to pay for food, [[#|medical care]], and clothing.
-Ex slaves, or freedmen, would work,only requiring a direct payment, so this would often be the [[#|cheaper]] option as far as labor on farms would go
-When farms had dangerous working conditions,such as being too hot or too cold,it was typically a better idea to have hired workers than slaves,because if a slave became ill, their owner would have to pay for [[#|medical care]] and anything else needed to help the slave get better,whereas if a hired worker fell ill, the landowner could simply fire that worker.
-Many landowners who could not come to visit their land very often, did not feel that they could trust their land in the hands of slaves, as they might steal things from the property. So, a good solution to this problem was to have paying tenants rent their land. Not only would this provide security, but often the tenants would offer to work on the land for free which was a better option than paying workers at times.
-Families were often [[#|close]] to starvation due to crop damage. The landowners rarely [[#|cared]], although often they were not aware of the condition of their farms.
-Sheperds in Rome were not the least bit like the image that is painted in so many peoples heads.In reality, a sheperds job was miserable, and at the best, dull. They would spend their days leading their flocks between different rugged mountain pastures, no matter what the weather may have been, not to mention the fact that they had to spend long periods of time completely isolated from their home. -Even though several poets described country life as a pleasant, relaxing time, they usually had no first hand experience, and what their poems described was simply not true. Nights on farms were usually spent without sleeping as [[#|farmers]] looked out their [[#|windows]] helplessly, as they watched the crops being destroyed. -Because of Rome's location near the Tiber river, it was very vulnerable to floods, which caused [[#|problems]] when it comes to food -Some of the ways that floods would cause [[#|problems]] with food in Rome were [[#|disrupting]] transportation, damaging crops, and ruining food that was in storage. -During the [[#|reign]] of Augustus, the climate in Rome was beneficial, and crops excelled, which resulted in birthrates increasing, although around the time of [[#|Marcus Aurelius]], the climate began to change, and the crops began to fail. - These suffering crops led to decreasing birthrates, malnutrition, and disease. -As the population decreased, so did [[#|government tax]] base and the military pool, which left the Romans unable to efficiently support and protect themselves. -As the climate grew colder and food decreased, animals began to come closer to human life, which led to a series of outbreaks that killed almost half of the population in Europe. and eaten along with sausage, domestic fowl, game, eggs, cheese, fish, or shellfish. -Most Roman meals centered around corn, oil, and whine -Cereals were a staple food item -Bread was the most common food in Rome, and was often accompanied by cheese or honey and eaten along with sausage, eggs, game, domestic fowl, fish, or shellfish -Meats such as pork were popular and in high demand -A variety of cakes, pastries, and tarts were baked both at home and commercially -Strongly flavored sauces, spices, and herbs became a common part of the Roman cuisine. -The Romans loved drinking wine, but they considered it barbaric to drink it flat. Instead they would dilute it, spice it, or heat it. -Having free rations of grain became very hard for Rome to keep up and support as more and more people began to need this service.
-Inflation caused prices on food to go up
-Increased use of slave labor left many lower to middle class Romans out of work
Possible Reasons for Starvation in Rome:
-Increased use of slave labor, leaving many lower to middle class Romans out of work
-Crop failure (creating a food shortage)
-Too many people needing free grain ration from government (made it harder for government to support the program)
-Inflation causing prices on things such as food to go up
Research About Starvation Today:
-Today, on the African continent, nearly 1 in 4 humans is malnourished, in Latin America almost 1 in every 8 people goes to bed hungry, in Asia and the Pacific, 28% of the population borders starvation.
-Throughout the world, 1 out of every 6 people do not eat enough food to be healthy and have an active lifestyle -Every year somewhere between 40 and 60 million people die every year from starvation or hunger related diseases, many of these people are children -Some of the ways that food is distributed to people in poverty currently are free food restaurants, budget restaurants, emergency relief, home delivery services, shelters, school and college feeding programs, and cultural festivals -Now, more people die from hunger each year than from AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined -A child dies from hunger every 6 seconds -In places such as Haiti, some women are not able to get food to all of their children, so they have to make the decision of which kids will be given food and which kids will you be forced to stop feeding. -A current solution that is being used, especially in Haiti, is a food called "Medika Mamba, " an energy dense food similar to peanut butter that is easy to make store, preserve, and distribute. This food is made to ensure Haitian children that they will survive childhood. -Many people think that part of the solution is for the government to stop spending excess money on political campaigns and other unnecessary things, and to use that money towards world hunger -One theory is that food is not the problem, the problem is how we are distributing it. For example, 2008 set a record in terms of harvest, and had the most food produced than ever before in history, so clearly the amount of food may not be the problem, the problem is that not every has access to it. -Some ideas of why world hunger is such a large problem at this point are that oil costs are making it more expensive to grow, harvest, and distribute food. Another theory is that the droughts and hurricanes have destroyed crops around the world and limited food, but only in certain areas of the world.
-Hunger not only makes people weaken,but also, it can effect their mind and morality. Especially when people have hungry families to feed, starvation can lead people to commit crimes in order to save themselves and their family. At this point, hunger is no longer a problem for one person, but rather a social problem.
-Reasons for hunger include:
-people are financially unable to buy food
-people cannot easily access a food market or source
-conditions such as drought and flooding prevent people from being able to grow their own food
-A possible solution for world hunger and starvation could be having wealthy areas or areas with a surplus of food to give a certain amount of food to places in desperate need however so frequently
-There are also ways that individuals can help out with word hunger.
Questions I Still Have:
About Rome:
Did the Roman farms have multiple crops on them,or did each farm mainly grow just one or two crops?
Did the Romans have enough food?
Did the Romans have a shortage of food, or did they have a good amount of food, but didn't distribute it efficiently and evenly throughout the empire?
What was the average meal of a lower [[#|class]] person in Rome?
What approaches did Rome take to attempt to solve the problem of starvation?
Current Starvation/Solutions:
What are your plans for solving world hunger as of right now?
Has your organization made any promises relating to world hunger and/or when it may be resolved?
What exactly is in "Medika Mamba?"
Which organizations to fix world hunger are currently the most successful? (If this question were answered I could then research that organization and see what their methods for resolving world hunger are.)
Possible Contacts:
Kristina Sessa- Associate Professor at Ohio State University- specializing in classical Roman culture and Christianity in the late Roman West [[#|email address]]: Sessa.3@osu.edu
David Beckmann- President of Breadfor the World Organization- doctor and world hunger expert [[#|email address]]: dbeckmann@bread.org
Expert Contact:
To: Kristina Sessa
Dear Ms. Sessa,
My name is Sophie Argus and I am a seventh grade student at Nagel Middle School. I am currently doing a project on starvation in ancient Rome, and I have a few unanswered questions that I was hoping you could help me out on.
1. Did the Roman farms grow multiple crops,or did each farm specialize in just one or two?2.Did the Romans actually have a scarcity of food, or did they just have a problem evenly distributing it?3.What was the average meal of a lower class Roman like?
Thank you! Any help would be appreciated!
Sincerely,Sophie Argus
Response: None
To: David Beckmann
=
=
Dear Mr. Beckmann,
My name is Sophie Argus and I am a seventh grade student at Nagel Middle School. Currently I am doing a project on starvation and I thought that you might be able to help me out with some questions I have.
1. What are your plans for solving world hunger as of right now?
2. What approaches has your organization already taken towards world hunger?
3. Has your organization made any promises as to when the problem may be solved?
Thank you! Any help you could give me would be appreciated!
Sincerely,
Sophie Argus
Response:
From: Jamie Thomas
Sophie, Good morning! Thank you for emailing us. I’m glad you are taking on this project. You might first look at our website, www.bread.org, to see what we do and how we work. Bread for the World works by organizing citizens all over the United States to write letters to their elected officials asking and encouraging them to make decisions (and write laws) that will provide help and opportunity for hungry people in the U.S. and around the world. Bread for the World Institute’s new hunger report, “Within Reach: Global Development Goals,” calls for a final push to meet the Millennium Development Goal targets (including one on hunger!) by 2015. David Beckmann’s book “Exodus from Hunger: We Can End Hunger In Our Time,” spells out some plans in even more detail. After you’ve looked through our website, you can reach out to Jon Gromek, our Bread for the World staff person for Ohio (jgromek@bread.org) if you’d like to ask some follow up questions. He can also help you get your class involved in helping hungry people – your voice matters! Best wishes for your project, Jamie Thomas
Starvation
Starvation is:to be in the process of perishing or suffering severely from hunger
Research:
-Farms in Rome were almost never visited by their owners, but slaves would be put to work to take care of the land
-Both [[#|free]] men and slaves could be put to work at a farm
-Free men who worked on farms were typically either:
-were working on their own land (or land they rented)
-hired for an [[#|operation]] such as harvest
-were working off [[#|debt]]
-Slaves were not actually very [[#|cheap]] labor because they were considered the property of their owner. Because of this, slave owners would want to keep their slaves in good condition,so they would have to pay for food, [[#|medical care]], and clothing.
-Ex slaves, or freedmen, would work,only requiring a direct payment, so this would often be the [[#|cheaper]] option as far as labor on farms would go
-When farms had dangerous working conditions,such as being too hot or too cold,it was typically a better idea to have hired workers than slaves,because if a slave became ill, their owner would have to pay for [[#|medical care]] and anything else needed to help the slave get better,whereas if a hired worker fell ill, the landowner could simply fire that worker.
-Many landowners who could not come to visit their land very often, did not feel that they could trust their land in the hands of slaves, as they might steal things from the property. So, a good solution to this problem was to have paying tenants rent their land. Not only would this provide security, but often the tenants would offer to work on the land for free which was a better option than paying workers at times.
-Families were often [[#|close]] to starvation due to crop damage. The landowners rarely [[#|cared]], although often they were not aware of the condition of their farms.
-Sheperds in Rome were not the least bit like the image that is painted in so many peoples heads.In reality, a sheperds job was miserable, and at the best, dull. They would spend their days leading their flocks between different rugged mountain pastures, no matter what the weather may have been, not to mention the fact that they had to spend long periods of time completely isolated from their home.
-Even though several poets described country life as a pleasant, relaxing time, they usually had no first hand experience, and what their poems described was simply not true. Nights on farms were usually spent without sleeping as [[#|farmers]] looked out their [[#|windows]] helplessly, as they watched the crops being destroyed.
-Because of Rome's location near the Tiber river, it was very vulnerable to floods, which caused [[#|problems]] when it comes to food
-Some of the ways that floods would cause [[#|problems]] with food in Rome were [[#|disrupting]] transportation, damaging crops, and ruining food that was in storage.
-During the [[#|reign]] of Augustus, the climate in Rome was beneficial, and crops excelled, which resulted in birthrates increasing, although around the time of [[#|Marcus Aurelius]], the climate began to change, and the crops began to fail.
- These suffering crops led to decreasing birthrates, malnutrition, and disease.
-As the population decreased, so did [[#|government tax]] base and the military pool, which left the Romans unable to efficiently support and protect themselves.
-As the climate grew colder and food decreased, animals began to come closer to human life, which led to a series of outbreaks that killed almost half of the population in Europe.
and eaten along with sausage, domestic fowl, game, eggs, cheese, fish, or shellfish.
-Most Roman meals centered around corn, oil, and whine
-Cereals were a staple food item
-Bread was the most common food in Rome, and was often accompanied by cheese or honey and eaten along with sausage, eggs, game, domestic fowl, fish, or shellfish
-Meats such as pork were popular and in high demand
-A variety of cakes, pastries, and tarts were baked both at home and commercially
-Strongly flavored sauces, spices, and herbs became a common part of the Roman cuisine.
-The Romans loved drinking wine, but they considered it barbaric to drink it flat. Instead they would dilute it, spice it, or heat it.
-Having free rations of grain became very hard for Rome to keep up and support as more and more people began to need this service.
-Inflation caused prices on food to go up
-Increased use of slave labor left many lower to middle class Romans out of work
Possible Reasons for Starvation in Rome:
-Increased use of slave labor, leaving many lower to middle class Romans out of work-Crop failure (creating a food shortage)
-Too many people needing free grain ration from government (made it harder for government to support the program)
-Inflation causing prices on things such as food to go up
Research About Starvation Today:
-Today, on the African continent, nearly 1 in 4 humans is malnourished, in Latin America almost 1 in every 8 people goes to bed hungry, in Asia and the Pacific, 28% of the population borders starvation.
-Throughout the world, 1 out of every 6 people do not eat enough food to be healthy and have an active lifestyle
-Every year somewhere between 40 and 60 million people die every year from starvation or hunger related diseases, many of these people are children
-Some of the ways that food is distributed to people in poverty currently are free food restaurants, budget restaurants, emergency relief, home delivery services, shelters, school and college feeding programs, and cultural festivals
-Now, more people die from hunger each year than from AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined
-A child dies from hunger every 6 seconds
-In places such as Haiti, some women are not able to get food to all of their children, so they have to make the decision of which kids will be given food and which kids will you be forced to stop feeding.
-A current solution that is being used, especially in Haiti, is a food called "Medika Mamba, " an energy dense food similar to peanut butter that is easy to make store, preserve, and distribute. This food is made to ensure Haitian children that they will survive childhood.
-Many people think that part of the solution is for the government to stop spending excess money on political campaigns and other unnecessary things, and to use that money towards world hunger
-One theory is that food is not the problem, the problem is how we are distributing it. For example, 2008 set a record in terms of harvest, and had the most food produced than ever before in history, so clearly the amount of food may not be the problem, the problem is that not every has access to it.
-Some ideas of why world hunger is such a large problem at this point are that oil costs are making it more expensive to grow, harvest, and distribute food. Another theory is that the droughts and hurricanes have destroyed crops around the world and limited food, but only in certain areas of the world.
-Hunger not only makes people weaken,but also, it can effect their mind and morality. Especially when people have hungry families to feed, starvation can lead people to commit crimes in order to save themselves and their family. At this point, hunger is no longer a problem for one person, but rather a social problem.
-Reasons for hunger include:
-people are financially unable to buy food
-people cannot easily access a food market or source
-conditions such as drought and flooding prevent people from being able to grow their own food
-A possible solution for world hunger and starvation could be having wealthy areas or areas with a surplus of food to give a certain amount of food to places in desperate need however so frequently
-There are also ways that individuals can help out with word hunger.
Questions I Still Have:
About Rome:
Did the Roman farms have multiple crops on them,or did each farm mainly grow just one or two crops?Did the Romans have enough food?
Did the Romans have a shortage of food, or did they have a good amount of food, but didn't distribute it efficiently and evenly throughout the empire?
What was the average meal of a lower [[#|class]] person in Rome?
What approaches did Rome take to attempt to solve the problem of starvation?
Current Starvation/Solutions:
What are your plans for solving world hunger as of right now?Has your organization made any promises relating to world hunger and/or when it may be resolved?
What exactly is in "Medika Mamba?"
Which organizations to fix world hunger are currently the most successful? (If this question were answered I could then research that organization and see what their methods for resolving world hunger are.)
Possible Contacts:
Kristina Sessa- Associate Professor at Ohio State University- specializing in classical Roman culture and Christianity in the late Roman West
[[#|email address]]: Sessa.3@osu.edu
David Beckmann- President of Breadfor the World Organization- doctor and world hunger expert
[[#|email address]]: dbeckmann@bread.org
Expert Contact:
To: Kristina Sessa
Dear Ms. Sessa,
My name is Sophie Argus and I am a seventh grade student at Nagel Middle School. I am currently doing a project on starvation in ancient Rome, and I have a few unanswered questions that I was hoping you could help me out on.
1. Did the Roman farms grow multiple crops,or did each farm specialize in just one or two?2.Did the Romans actually have a scarcity of food, or did they just have a problem evenly distributing it?3.What was the average meal of a lower class Roman like?
Thank you! Any help would be appreciated!
Sincerely,Sophie Argus
Response: None
To: David Beckmann
=
=
Dear Mr. Beckmann,My name is Sophie Argus and I am a seventh grade student at Nagel Middle School. Currently I am doing a project on starvation and I thought that you might be able to help me out with some questions I have.
1. What are your plans for solving world hunger as of right now?
2. What approaches has your organization already taken towards world hunger?
3. Has your organization made any promises as to when the problem may be solved?
Thank you! Any help you could give me would be appreciated!
Sincerely,
Sophie Argus
Response:
From: Jamie Thomas
Sophie, Good morning! Thank you for emailing us. I’m glad you are taking on this project. You might first look at our website, www.bread.org, to see what we do and how we work. Bread for the World works by organizing citizens all over the United States to write letters to their elected officials asking and encouraging them to make decisions (and write laws) that will provide help and opportunity for hungry people in the U.S. and around the world. Bread for the World Institute’s new hunger report, “Within Reach: Global Development Goals,” calls for a final push to meet the Millennium Development Goal targets (including one on hunger!) by 2015. David Beckmann’s book “Exodus from Hunger: We Can End Hunger In Our Time,” spells out some plans in even more detail. After you’ve looked through our website, you can reach out to Jon Gromek, our Bread for the World staff person for Ohio (jgromek@bread.org) if you’d like to ask some follow up questions. He can also help you get your class involved in helping hungry people – your voice matters! Best wishes for your project, Jamie Thomas
Sites Used:
Farming in Ancient Rome
Depopulation in Ancient Rome
Food Sources and Famines in Ancient Rome
Common Diet in Ancient Rome
Starvation Dictionary Definition
Solutions to World Hunger- Present Day
CNN World Hunger Article-2008
World Hunger Solutions
Mr. Donn- The Downfall of Ancient Rome
Sources:
1. "As Children Starve, World Struggles for Solution." CNN. N.p., 17 Nov. 2008. Web. 18 Jan.2013.
2. "Farmers in Ancient Rome." Suite101.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2013.
3. "Climate Change, Depopulation, and the Fall of the Roman Empire." Examiner.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2013.
Final Presentation:
Starvation Presentation